Inkjet printers, thermal inkjet printers in particular, have come into widespread use in business and homes because of their low cost, high print quality, and colour printing capability.
In operation, drops of printing fluid are emitted onto the print medium such as paper or transparency film during a printing operation, in response to commands electronically transmitted to the printhead. These drops of printing fluid combine on the print media to form the text and images perceived by the human eye.
Media or substrates used to print large format products may be based on plastic such as PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) or vinyl. To overcome the intrinsic rigidity of PVC or vinyl, some components known as “plasticizers” may be added into the composition of the substrate during the manufacturing processes in order to render the material more flexible and durable.
For simplicity and clarity of illustration, the same reference numerals will be used throughout the figures to refer to the same or like parts, unless indicated otherwise.
The components in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the described subject matter.